The hot house

Author of the acclaimed Family of Spies, Pete Earley is the first writer ever permitted unlimited access to America's oldest federal prison. Out of the iron belly of this maximum-security penitentiary comes his stunning account of life behind bars--the nation's hardest criminals doing hard time... It's a self-contained metropolis behind vast walls built in 1895; a lethal place governed by ruthless clans competing for dominance. Murder is frequent, rape is less for sex than for power, and respect is the coin of the realm. Once disrespected, a Leavenworth inmate has two choices: he can submit to virtual slavery--or he can fight his antagonist until one of them dies. Nicknamed "the Hot House" because of the sweltering conditions of its cellblocks, the federal penitentiary in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, seethes with the pervasive threat of riot. It is the most dreaded facility in the system--not because of its maximum-security rating, but because of its fierce population: sociopathic gangsters, Aryan Nation neo-Nazi killers, muscle toughs, ruthless narcotics profiteers, and heavyset bikers pockmarked with bullet wounds like acne scars. Even the shaven-legged "punks," the drunks, and the